In this article, Heidelberger and Kabat continued their work to unravel the chemical processes of bacterial agglutination, the clumping together of antigen-bearing cells in the presence of antibodies called agglutinins. Here, they laid out a quantitative theory based on equations derived from the law of mass action that effectively showed that agglutination is analogous to the precipitin reaction. Their conclusion that agglutinins were not a distinct group of antibodies, but rather that agglutination and precipitation were separate functions of the same antibodies, overturned established conceptions of the agglutination process that had placed emphasis on the role of electrolytes and physical force.
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